I want to get a charcuterie book and was originally going to buy Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing , but having read on the forum about some of your reservations about cure quantities etc I am now think about getting Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery by Jane Grigson.
Firstly, is there any comparison between the 2 books? and secondly which would you choose?

The Grigson book is a delight to read (as are all her books) but many of the recipes are a bit vague and it's probably better as a source of ideas than as a manual. In particular, she doesn't use curing salts in the form currently practiced (i.e. cure #1, #2), just mentions (often very vague) quantities of saltpetre.

ped wrote:I want to get a charcuterie book and was originally going to buy Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing , but having read on the forum about some of your reservations about cure quantities etc I am now think about getting Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery by Jane Grigson.Firstly, is there any comparison between the 2 books? and secondly which would you choose?

Many thanks

Cure quantities are much more of a concern in Grigson's books.

I highly recommend "Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages" by the Marianski's. Brimming with information. It's the best bang for the buck.

This is a really good way to spend your book money wisely. Review the books in the library. If your local library doesn't have them, you may be able to use an inter-library loan service to get a copy of the book sent to your local branch for you to check out. That way, you don't have the disappointment of wasting money on a book that turns out to be less useful than you'd hoped.

Also online is Len Poli's site that it one of the best's places to research info about sausage making and curing....I'm surprised he hasn't put in book form yet. I'd buy it just to have. http://lpoli.50webs.com/index.htm

Adelaide wrote:Marianski it is then Smile , is it worth getting the others if only for the read?

Here is an annotated reference list from one of my intro workshops, and just my opinion of them as someone from the US:

Aidells, Bruce and Denis Kelly. Flying Sausages. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1995.
Aidells pioneered the gourmet chicken and turkey sausage niche, and this book brings his techniques home. Although there are only seven sausage recipes, the real benefit is insight into adapting red meat sausage traditions to poultry sausage. A good resource for those who enjoy sausage but avoid red meat.

Aidells, Bruce and Denis Kelly. Bruce Aidells’ Complete Sausage Book. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2000.
An excellent introduction to modern home sausage-making, including traditional meats, poulty, seafood, and game. The recipes are right-sized for home sausage-making and yield satisfying results without requiring exotic gear. Includes many recipes from their out-of-print book Hot Links and County Flavors.

Anderson, Warren R. Mastering the Craft of Making Sausage. Short Hills, NJ: Burford Books, 2010.
An introductory discussion of making fresh and cured sausages, with a good selection of recipes.

Bertolli, Paul. Cooking by Hand. New York: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2003.
Trained at Chez Panisse under the tutelage of Alice Waters, Paul Bertolli was Executive Chef of Oliveto Restaurant, an acclaimed restaurant in Oakland, California. Bertolli made all the sausages and cured meats used in his restaurants, and discovered his true passion. In 2005, he sold the restaurant at the height of its popularity, founded Fra’ Mani Salumi, and went into business full-time making artisanal Italian sausages and cured meats. His passion for food of all kinds comes through in this excellent read and cookbook; and, though this is not a book on sausage making, the chapter on sausage making, alone, is worth the price of the book.

Grigson, Jane. Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery. London: Grub Street, 2001.
The classic treatise on French sausages and charcuterie. Originally published in 1967, the book was unavailable for many years. This edition was published in 2001 and has been reprinted six times, since. Not a book for beginners, Grigson’s recipes are from an earlier age, including liberal use of potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The recipes must be reformulated to use appropriate modern cures and conform to modern safety limits on nitrite/nitrate content. This is still a comprehensive and authentic collection of French sausage and charcuterie recipes that should be on any serious foodie’s shelf.

Kobler, Chris. Making Great Sausage – 30 Savory Links from Around the World. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 1999.
This book is deceptive. It looks like an insubstantial coffee-table cookbook. Though thin, it is profusely illustrated with color photographs of the sausage-making process, and the recipes are tested.

Kutas, Rytek. Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing, 4th ed. Edited by Ben Kutas. Buffalo, NY: The Sausage Maker, 2007.
Many consider this the bible of home sausage-making. Written by a professional sausage maker, this book includes recipes for 10-, 25-, and 100-pound batches, with extensive discussion of the ingredients, techniques and processes. Highly recommended and definitely one for the shelf. There is a companion video.

Livingston, A. D. Sausage. New York: Lyons Press, 1998.
A sausage-making cookbook by an outdoorsman. Not a good resource for the beginner, but provides an interesting perspective on the process. Some of the recipes do not appear to have been tested.

Marianski, Stanley, Adam Marianski and Miroslaw Gebarowski. Polish Sausages – Authentic Recipes and Instructions, 2nd ed. Seminole, FL: Bookmagic, 2009.
Stanley Marianski’s first book and a thorough discussion of the history of Polish sausages and Soviet-era recipes translated and adapted for home sausage-making.

Marianski, Stanley, Adam Marianski and Robert Marianski. Meat Smoking and Smoehouse Design, 2nd ed. Seminole, FL: Bookmagic, 2009.
Very thorough and up-to-date discussion of the art and science of meat smoking and a detailed discussion with plans for smokehouse design and construction.

Marianski, Stanley and Adam Marianski. The Art of Making Fermented Sausages, 2nd ed. Seminole, FL: Bookmagic, 2009.
One of the more comprehensive discussions of the science and techniques behind cured and fermented sausage making, and the most comprehensive available to the home sausage maker.

_____. Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages. Seminole, FL: Bookmagic, 2010.
Many now consider this the new bible of home sausage-making and the most important new book on home sausage-making in 50 years. Written by professional sausage makers, this book includes recipes for many fresh and cured sausages, with extensive discussion of the ingredients, techniques, processes, art and science. Highly recommended. If you can choose only one book, this is it.

Peery, Susan Mahnke and Charles G. Reavis. Home Sausage Making, 3rd ed. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2003.
The first edition of this book by Charles Reavis was published in 1981. The revised edition was published in 1987, with inferior recipes in which the salt and fat were reduced, compromising the quality of the original recipes and likely untested. The third edition restores the recipes to their original salt and fat content and/or revises and updates them, and adds many new recipes and a whole section on vegetarian sausages. If there is to be only one beginning sausage making book on the shelf, this should be it.

Predika, Jerry. The Sausage-Making Cookbook. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1983.
An extensive and unadorned collection of sausage recipes from all over the world. Many of the sausage recipes available on the world wide web have been plagiarized from Predika’s book. The number of recipes seems to be inflated by recipe variants that differ so subtly in seasoning that the differences are virtually undetectable. There also seems to be a deliberate attempt to make similar recipes look different by scrambling the order of ingredients and using different-but-equivalent measures (e.g., 1 T vs 3 tsp). Still a valuable idea book and source of representative sausage styles to research elsewhere.

Webster, Harold. The Venison Sausage Cookbook, 2nd ed.: A Complete Guide, from Field to Table. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2002.
The definitive work on venison sausage making and cookery, with many recipes.